Notes from the festival: "Drained"

It seems as if the reactions to this Brazilian black comedy are unfortunately split along the gender line. It shouldn’t be so basic, but after talking with plenty of people at the film festival’s late-night lounge about this movie, here are the unofficial results.
Men find “Drained” engaging and darkly comedic. Woman find it boring and offensive.
This comes after talking to only 10 or 12 people, but everybody was unexpectedly rigid on their positions. I’ve already given away my position, given my gender, but here’s a little bit more about the film.

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Lourenco is a buyer for a pawn shop, and his dark disposition doesn’t lend itself to a job that has so much inherent interaction with the public. He takes advantage of his customers in every way possible, and that behavior isn’t limited to his work life. At home, he speaks frankly to his fiancée, demeaning her and telling her he’s is done with their relationship even though their wedding invitations are already at the printer.
His foul mood drives him even to kill a customer at the shop for no reason, but instead of looking inside himself for the demons, he blames his behavior on a fetid smell coming form the drain inside his personal bathroom – that and his new obsession with the curvaceous buttocks belonging to a waitress working a café down the street from his office.
Director Heitor Dhalia’s film is oddly intriguing in that its heart is in Lourenco – and while the potential for good is certainly there, his tendency to self-destruct is the overwhelming force that will inevitably take him down. The movie moves along methodically and quietly, and the story is as weirdly unexpected – with Lourenco eventually finding his inner strength in the smell from the drain – as it is a traditional boy-meets-girl love story.
Star Selton Mello is stunning in his portrayal of weirdo Lourenco. His supporting characters are on-point as well, including the nontraditional storytelling objects: The stench, the waitress’ behind and a glass eye Lourenco buys from a down-on-his-luck sort.

Lisa Kennedy has been The Denver Post film critic for quite a spell. The job returned her to the town she grew up in after 20 years of living elsewhere: mostly in New York City. During the time she's been back, she was voted into the National Society of Film Critics, a first for a Colorado reviewer. When she began Diary of a Mad Moviegoer, she wasn't just cribbing from Tyler Perry. In fact, she seldom goes all Madea on movies, thinking the gig is more like a conversation than a competition about who's right about which flick.